ZIV/RLVD/Future Bicycle: Improve cargo bike funding

As associations of the bicycle industry, they welcome this development but propose further changes to the current directive:

• Promote Leasing: Unlike electric cars, the promotion of cargo bikes and cargo trailers is not eligible for leasing. For the commercial sector, the eligibility for leasing is an important lever, as it is now the standard way of procurement. Thus, the leasing rate for commercial car and commercial vehicle registrations is around 64 percent. Especially small businesses, associations, and organizations benefit from the liquidity-saving type of financing as well as the better planning of their expenses. Therefore, around 85 percent of all leasing contracts in Germany are concluded with small and medium-sized enterprises. The federal government explicitly excludes leasing because a leased e-cargo bike/trailer is only made available to the lessee (applicant) for use and does not become their property.
• Adjust the subsidy amount in leasing as well: Just as the e-car directive allows for leasing, the ELR should also be leasing-eligible, and the subsidy amount should be equivalent to that in the e-car directive based on the following holding periods: A vehicle with a leasing period of over 23 months receives the full subsidy amount, a vehicle with a leasing period of 12-23 months receives 50% of the subsidy amount, and a vehicle with a leasing period of 6-11 months receives 25% of the subsidy amount.
• Adjust the requirements for eligible models of cargo bikes and trailers: Different industries have different requirements for transport systems. The current promotion unnecessarily excludes certain cargo bikes from the subsidy. For example, the acquisition of cargo bikes or cargo trailers without an electric motor is excluded. Similarly, so-called delivery bikes and "regular" longtails are excluded. This unnecessarily restricts businesses for whom delivery bikes with the corresponding load capacity or cargo bikes without an electric drive are the most practical.
• Expansion of the subsidy to other economic sectors and applications: The use of cargo bikes for passenger transport is currently not eligible for subsidy under the ELR. This excludes nursing and disability facilities or taxis for transporting people and wheelchairs from the cargo bike subsidy, even though the use of transport bikes is becoming increasingly popular in these areas. Sharing services are also explicitly excluded in the current subsidy directive, even though sharing providers play an important role in traffic policy. Usage analyses show that over 40 percent of booked rides replace a car ride. Overall, the procurement of commercially used cargo bikes and trailers should be subsidized regardless of the industry.
• Increase the subsidy rates and adjust the binding period: The current subsidy rates lag far behind those for electric cars. Professional and particularly powerful cargo bikes for goods transport cost between €10,000 and €25,000 net. Currently, only 25% of the acquisition costs up to a maximum of €2,500 per electric cargo bike or trailer are subsidized. The subsidy should be equated with electric cars, which means a subsidy of 40% of the acquisition costs up to a maximum of €9,000 per cargo bike or trailer. At the same time, the current binding period of 3 years for cargo bikes and trailers must be adjusted to the binding period analogous to electric cars. Here, a minimum holding period of 6 months is prescribed.
• Scrappage bonus for scrapping a combustion vehicle: In France, there have been two subsidies for years: in addition to a purchase bonus for electric cars, a scrappage bonus for old combustion vehicles. There, a subsidy of €5,000 is paid when scrapping and acquiring electric cars. This regulation also applies to the purchase of cargo bikes. This not only promotes a quick switch to more energy-efficient solutions but also reduces noise. "We propose that in Germany, the scrapping of a commercial vehicle with internal combustion engines when switching to cargo bikes and trailers be promoted with an additional, combinable scrappage bonus," the associations say.
• Allow early project start: Currently, funding can only be granted if the applicant has not started the project at the time of approval. In practice, this means that ready-to-deliver cargo bikes or trailers at the dealer or manufacturer wait for the associated subsidy approval. Meanwhile, they cannot be used. The acquisition may be delayed by several weeks depending on the number of applications at the approval authority. Therefore, we demand that cargo bikes or trailers can be put into operation at the applicant's risk from the time of submitting the subsidy application, or alternatively, that an early project start is possible as was the case under the old regulation for heavy cargo bikes.
• Expand the subsidy to young used cargo bikes: E-cargo bikes that are not brand new are currently excluded from the subsidy. In the directive for the environmental bonus, however, the purchase and leasing of new and also "young used vehicles" are promoted. Accordingly, it would be appropriate to include the category of "young used vehicles" in the ELR equivalent to the so-called environmental bonus and to promote them according to the same principles.

With such an opening of the existing subsidy directive for e-cargo bikes, a significant increase in the subsidy program in the short to medium term should also be accompanied, the associations further suggest. They recommend, in a first step, increasing the program from the current €3.5 million annually to €70 million. In the long term, however, the proposal made by Alliance 90/The Greens of opening it up to private households is urgently needed (with two different subsidy rates for commercial and private use), "so that the transport sector can set a path towards the emission targets anchored in the Climate Protection Act," they say. The Greens had already proposed a subsidy program of €1 billion within four years during the federal election campaign.

"In view of the high subsidy amounts for the electrification of car traffic and the positive effects of cycling on the climate, environment, health, and traffic, this level is justified," appeal the associations.